Hope For Tomorrow
by wandertogondor
Summary: It had always been the two Winchester's against the world until Julianne stole the heart of the green eyed hunter and gave him a new sense of hope in a hopeless world overrun by zombies. Co-written by the marvelous sweetkiwi604! Complete.


"Hey, grumpy?" Julianne began, subconsciously syncing her footfalls with his as they approached an abandoned school building.

"I'm not grumpy."

She smiled to herself. "That was a very grumpy thing to say."

"Indie, stop," he whined, craning his face up, hoping some higher power would make her shut up for just a minute. "It's too early in the morning for this."

"Dean, it's three in the afternoon, the zombie apocalypse ain't gonna wait for you."

He slowed his pace to a halt and turned to her, a mischievous smirk spreading across his face. "Wanna bet?"

"I know better than making bets with you."

Dean flashed her an amused grin as he held back a chuckle. "Are you scared of me?"

"Yeah," Julianne admitted, slapping on her best smile before continuing toward the entrance of the school.

The thick glass, which at one time had been paneled the doors, was broken and smeared with dried blood in the shape of a hand print. Directly after the double doors was the lobby that was dim and littered with dirt, dead leaves, and more puddles of dried blood. Julianne shriveled slightly, afraid of what growling, deadly creatures hid in the dark shadows further in the school. Dean sensed the distraught in her new found silence and moved closer so she could feel him near enough to protect her as he gripped his machete tighter.

Julianne glanced up at him briefly as he looked over her shoulder at her face. "Things might get rough and I don't think I'll make it out this time…"

"That's what you said the last time," his warm breath fanned across her face before he brushed past her and walked further into the lobby, stepping over mangled bodies, shards of glass, and mud-caked leaves.

"You go left," she suggested, motioning to the corridor which spiraled toward the adjacent building. "I'll scout here before taking the stairs down this hall and maybe meeting up with Sam."

Dean considered what she said for a brief moment when the corner of his lips turned downed in concern. "I think we should stay together."

She smirked, running her hands behind the lapels of his jacket. "We are together."

"Smart-ass," Dean muttered as he coiled one arm around her waist to bring her in for a soft kiss. "I'll see you on the other side, okay? Stay safe, babe. Don't try and play hero if it gets too hairy. I want you to just get out."

Julianne nodded, coming up on her toes to kiss him again, grabbing his lower lip with her teeth. "You too."

Confidently, Julianne began down the long hallway that led out of the lobby toward a flight of stairs going down. She glanced over her shoulder briefly just in time to see Dean's dark figure disappear behind a wall. It was silent and the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own breathing as she approached the first corner across from the metal doors propped open by years of accumulated dirt.

_You can't just hide up here forever,_ she thought. _The sooner you get moving, the sooner you can meet up with Sam. And the sooner you meet up with Sam the sooner you'll be able to relax._

The golden-haired woman chewed on her cheek, machete in hand, and glanced cautiously around the corner. Much to her surprise, not to mention her frustration, the hallway was empty. She let out a breath of relief, laughing at herself for being so scared until a low snarl sounded behind her. The huntress spun on her heels just as a decomposing corpse of the secretary lunged itself at her with its teeth bared. Julianne's mouth opened to scream but no sound came out as she fumbled to spear the machete into the zombie's body, desperately trying to push its head away with her elbow.

Years of training kicked in as the zombie snarled and made a swipe for her face. Julianne let out a loud grunt using all of her might to push the reanimated man away from her and used the spilt second of no contact to bring her machete up and through its neck. The spurt of blood and tissue was nothing compared to the sound it made as the head hit the floor and rolled a foot away from the body. Julianne only had a moment to swallow the bile rising in her throat and pull herself together as a horde shuffled their way towards the noise she had made taking down the secretary.

One zombie had been tough, and truthfully a bit terrifying, but a whole horde of them coming for her as she stood alone was too much. She took off down the flight of stairs praying to whoever was listening that her legs carried her faster than those of her chasing her. When she reached the next level she quickly closed the doors behind her and looked from something, anything, to keep them closed. Her eyes landed on a broomstick that had been carelessly tossed to the side in the commotion of the school being overrun. With a sprint she snatched it off the ground and placed it through the door handles to look the doors the best way she could.

Finally having a minute to breathe her mind wandered to the other two hunters that were trudging around this repulsive school. Had they run into the same problems? Had they been cornered? What would she do if she had to leave here without them?

She wouldn't.

Julianne shook her head of the negative thoughts, these were the Winchesters she was talking about and she was pretty sure they'd always come out on top. The moans of the zombies were growing louder as they pushed against the door trying to get to her. The wooden broomstick would only hold for so long and she didn't want to be anywhere near here when it gave way.

The huntress was trapped in a corridor with only one way out. If she turned around and went back the way she came she'd come face to face with a horde of zombies that would tear into her flesh until there was nothing left but an unrecognizable version of her old self. She had no choice but to go through the door in front of her and hope that there wouldn't be another nightmare waiting for her on the other side.

The door opened with a loud creak from being closed for quite some time and slammed shut behind her with a resounding boom. Her eyes closed on impact cursing at herself for being so reckless but when she nervously glanced around she noticed she'd made her way out into a courtyard surrounded by the tall buildings on three sides. The crisp air was welcomed into her lung greedily to expel the death that had settled within her while walking the halls.

Movement from one of the windows brought her gaze up the building until it landed on the green-eyed hunter she'd be able to recognize anywhere. He flashed his infamous smirk before it fell from his face and he banged hard on the window to get her attention and pointed behind her.

Julianne whipped around, machete raised and ready for the fight that would certainly ensue only to see not one, not two, but three zombies making their way towards her. Her feet moved backwards on their own accord as her grip tightened around the handle. She chanced one glance up to the window hoping to see the man who stole her heart but found them all empty. She was on her own and if she was going down she was going down swinging.

The first zombie was taken out with a sickening crunch as the sharpened blade connected with the vertebrae in its neck. One down, two to go. They had backed her into a corner and while she kept one hand up to block her face the other yielded the machete trying to keep herself alive. The snarls and the smell only intensified her fear and with one last prayer she used that fear to fuel the strength she needed.

As she took her arm away from her face and raised her machete one of the two zombies disappeared, not having the time to think about how she slashed through the other ones neck quickly decapitating it causing it to spray a line of blood across her shirt. Looking over at the zombie that had miraculously disappeared and not a moment too soon she saw the second best thing.

"You alright?" Sam asked slightly out of breath from his own fight with the undead.

Julianne let out a sigh of relief, "Yeah. No sweat."

Their time of rest was short-lived when a swarm of zombies seeped through the doors that Julianne had come through just a few minutes ago. Sam quickly grabbed her hand, and pulled her through the cleared pathway around the back of the school building and up a steep hill which led up to the front of the school, hoping Dean would meet them there.

The rumbling of the Impala was music to their ears and after Sam made sure Julianne was in front of him they ran to the safety of their steel horse, dodging zombies on the trek up the hill. Dean stepped on the acceleration and drove a good five miles away from the red zone before he pulled over, giving some time for all of them to catch their breaths as he got out onto the littered road.

"What happened to not playing Superwoman?" He questioned taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping away some blood that had gotten on Julianne's face when she followed him out of the car.

She turned her cheek into the warmth of his calloused hand before placing a kiss on his palm. "Even Batman needs a superhero."

Dean pulled her into a gentle embrace, burying his face in the crook of her neck as he gathered her into himself. "Don't scare me like that again. I can't lose you."

"Shh," Julianne soothingly whispered in his ears, rubbing circles across his back. "You can't get rid of me that easy, Dean Winchester."

"Uhh, guys," Sam spoke up, getting their attention before he pointed down the road where a group of zombies shuffled out of the forests which lined the left side of the road while more corpses lined the thin fence on a small hill separating the highway from the road they were on. "We should probably go."

Somewhat unwillingly, Dean took a step back from Julianne and climbed back into the Impala. "Zombie apocalypse can stop for a minute, can't it?" he grumbled, turning the key in the ignition.

"Did you get the medicine kit?" Julianne asked Sam, remembering why they were at the school in the first place.

Sam held up a duffel bag filled to the brim with medical supplies that he emptied from the nurse's office. "Do you think Kevin will need Tums?"

"Dean might," Julianne joked, wiping her machete clean with a greasy old cloth as they continued down the road back to the bunker in Lebanon, Kansas, earning her a playful glare from her partner in crime.

The three hunters promptly separated once inside the bunker. Sam went down the metal stairway from the balcony down to the circular room where Kevin stood waiting with a bowl of cereal they had hoarded over the past few months.

Julianne, exhausted and covered in blood, started toward the showers sensing Dean following close behind. She dropped her machete in the hall, already pulling her shirt over her head halfway to the shower. With a twist of her wrist, she turned the hot water knob and felt the water that came through the shower head at a comfortable pressure. She didn't need to turn around to know Dean's eyes glued to her as she peeled out of her dirty clothes and left them in a pile near the shower.

As she pulled her hair out of the loose bun, she asked, "You just going to stand there and watch, or are you going to join me?"

His hands came on either side of her waist, tugging her back against his chest as he kissed along her shoulder blade enjoying the way her skin was still soft. It was one of the things that constantly reminded him that he could easily lose her in this new cruel world and without a moments notice. He'd come close today when he saw her down in that courtyard, too close, and he felt his chest tighten in a way he didn't know was possible.

Julianne groaned as he nipped at the side of her neck and then ran his tongue over the assaulted area to ease the pain. "You keep doing that and we're not going to get very clean in this shower."

"Well…" Dean trailed off as his hand slid down the front of wet skin resulting in a sharp intake of breath for her.

It wasn't until Dean rested his forehead against her shoulder and let out a deep sigh that had Julianne's mind going from a place of lust to one of concern. Dean wasn't one to just stop in the middle of getting worked up. She turned her body around in his arms so they were facing each other and ran a finger along his jaw line. "You think any harder and smoke's going to start coming out your ears. You want to tell me what's on your mind?"

"It's nothing," Dean tried to fight the feeling off as he kissed her nose.

Julianne placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled back enough to be able to look him in the eye. "Don't do that. Don't lock me out, I hate it, and you know it. Talk to me. As cool as it would be I'm not a mind reader."

Dean swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and brought his lips softly to hers barely ghosting a kiss before pulling her flush against him. He needed her close because when his arms were encircled around her body she was, in that moment, truly safe. She held on just as tight knowing he craved the contact just as much as she did.

"I really thought I was going to lose you today," he confessed the emotion as raw as it could be in his voice.

She sighed and placed a kiss on his toned chest, "I'm okay. I'm right here."

"Promise me one thing," Dean took her face in his hands, eyebrows furrowed deep with purpose, and ran his thumbs over her freckle covered cheeks. "Promise me I'll have more time with you."

Julianne's lip curled up on one side almost mimicking the infamous smirk. "I'd give you forever if I could Dean Winchester but I promise you I'll give you as much time as this world allows." She rose up on the pads of her feet and kissed his stubbly chin before grabbing his lip between her teeth. She claimed his lips one more time in a passionate and knee weakening kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Dean had been amazed the first time those three little life changing words spilt from his mouth with such ease. He'd known love for his family but this was different. This was about giving himself over completely to another human being and having her do the same.

They finished their shower together, stealing kisses here and there, dried off and got dressed in clean comfortable clothes before joining Kevin and Sam in the other room. Julianne went to pantry to see what she could snack on while Dean skimmed through what supplies they had acquired on today's run.

Kevin nudged the oldest Winchester with his elbow, "Have a good shower?"

Sam chuckled and tried to cover it with a cough when he thought he's get a glare from Dean or a smack in the back of the head from Julianne. He was genuinely surprised when they both smiled and Dean answered, "The best."

_If only forever were true,_

_Never being afraid would sound good._

_Always having someone to hold onto_

_And knowing that tomorrow never comes*._

No matter who you are or what you do no one can promise forever but you can hope for a tomorrow.

* * *

***Forever, Never, and Always **by sweetkiwi604


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